Small Garden

For years we've wanted a garden. Alas, we are not yet blessed with the sanctity of Santa Fe homeownership, which would enable us to plant peppers, zucchini, and other vegetables. Fortunately, we have one and a half greenthumbs in our household, and we've been able to delve into the world of container gardening.

Unfortunately, the heavy winds and intermittent frosts killed any chance of fresh tomatoes this year. But we have local varieties of daisies and a pot of coreopsis, which always reminds me of Walter Mitty. We have several other pots of flowers whose names I can't even remember, brightening the eye and giving a playground to insects. Our jade plant is thriving in the sun after the long winter indoors. But my favorite items in the garden are our herbs.

We have some catnip, which when not being pilfered by the neighborhood cats, entertains my housebound rambunctious cats. We have lavender, which soothes cats and humans alike when the cats have had too much catnip and have torn up the residence. The basil is growing strong, good for cooking, salads and the big fall harvest when we make pesto with lots of local garlic and piñon. Summer is also a good time for the sweet Mojito mint. When the mint supply exceeds the demand for mojitos, it's wonderful in pasta salads, green salads, and homemade hummus and falafel. The lavender and mint are also great in sun teas.

Next year we'll probably try tomatoes again, and we'll certainly continue with the herbs. After all, it's very good practice for that day when we have a full-sized vegetable garden.

Science After School: Mars Inside and Out

The Santa Fe Public Library
Presents

Science After School
Mars Inside and Out

A Program developed by the national
Lunar and Planetary Institute
(A partner of NASA)


Join children’s librarian, Lydia Wren, for FUN hands-on science activities! Explore Mars as a real scientist would, by making observations and drawing your own conclusions.

This program is offered to Boys and Girls ages 8 to 13.

Tuesdays: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
September 16 – November 4

Each class builds on the one before, so please plan to attend the whole series of 8 sessions.
Students who attend at least 5 of the 8 sessions will receive free take-home science materials at the final session!

Southside Branch Library
6599 Jaguar Drive
Corner of Jaguar and Country Club

Class space is limited so please register in advance by calling 955-2828 or in person at the Southside Children’s Desk.

This FREE program is sponsored by LANL Foundation and the Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library.

Summer Book Notes

What have you been reading this summer? Instead of breezing by with "beach books", I've been on an uncharacteristic non-fiction kick. Usually non-fiction is just a garnish, or a palette-cleanser between novels for me.

It started with Homage to Catalonia, proceeded on to Desert Solitaire, and now I'm plowing through People's History of the United States. All this non-fiction in a row is giving me lots of insights, exposing me to beautiful language and sometimes disturbing facts. They're an educational counterpoint to some novels I've read. Homage gives a different perspective of the Spanish Civil War than Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. The characters in Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang don't like dams very much, but in Desert Solitaire, Abbey beautifully and clearly illustrates the price we pay for certain types of progress, such as dams. Reading the People's History is providing a counterpoint to a myriad of fiction and non-fiction works in the American canon.


Perhaps I'll keep on this non-fiction roll until the fall, or maybe longer. Any recommendations?

Indiana Bones!

The Santa Fe Public Library
Presents
A Special End of Summer Event

Storyteller Michael McCartney as
Adventurer Indiana Bones
Telling stories of Dragons and Dinosaurs

Friday, August 15th

11:00 am to noon
Southside Branch Library
6599 Jaguar Drive
955-2828

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Main Library
145 Washington Avenue
955-6783

This FREE program for children is sponsored by The Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library

Fine Arts for Children & Teens

Summer Student Exhibit

Opening reception at the
Santa Fe Southside Branch Library
6599 Jaguar Drive
Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 3-5 p.m.

Free art making workshop and refreshments for kids of all ages.

Selected works from FACT’s summer programs will be on display the entire month of August.
Visit the library and see the extraordinary talents of our community’s youth!
For more information about FACT call 992-2787 or see their website.

Help us Help you

We've got some exciting new plans for the library coming up! But to make these plans happen, we need your help:

If you've moved recently, or you've changed your phone number or e-mail address, please let us know.

You can do this by:

1. Stopping by the Main Library (145 Washington) or the Southside Library (6599 Jaguar) and a library staff member will update your information for you.

2. Or calling 955-6785 or 955-2810 and a library staff member will update your information for you.

3. Logging in to your record and changing your information online. Click on "Modify Your Personal Info" and fill out all the fields.

Even if you're positive that nothing has changed, please check your record to make sure.

Also, if you're a LaFarge patron, please let us change your hold pick-up location for you for the holds you haven't gotten yet. We can't do this without your feedback, so please let us know if you'd rather pick up your holds at Main Library or Southside Library.

Sand Painting Workshop for Teens

August 4th: 10 am to 1 pm

The Santa Fe Public Library is offering a sand painting workshop for teens at the Southside Branch Library, 6599 Jaguar. Presenters Betsy Gorn and Sunny Zamora will introduce participants to Native American and other cultural sand painting traditions. Bring a sack lunch.

All supplies are provided but class size is limited. Please register in advance by calling 955-2820 or in person at the Southside Library Reference Desk.

Sponsored by the Buckaroo Ball Foundation, the Santa Fe Community Foundation, and LANL.

Honey

So many people tout the great benefits of eating local honey. You get the benefit of the bits and pieces of pollen and honey, which as an immune system booster is quite powerful. Allergy expert Tom Ogren's, and others’, mantra is “local is better.” When asked how local the honey should be for allergy prevention, he says, “I always advise to get honey that was raised closest to where you live, the closer the better since it will have more of exactly what you’ll need.”

With that in mind, I headed to the Farmers Market on a Saturday morning. A couple of stands had honey, which has to be local as the market features only local producers. I questioned one beekeeper on his honey as his label reads: Santa Barbara Honey. “Why would I buy Santa Barbara, California honey in Santa Fe?” I ask. He shares that he keeps bee hives on Santa Barbara Drive right off Old Pecos Trail in Santa Fe. That is less than a quarter of a mile from my house—my flowers helped in the making of this honey. My bees’ hard work is in those jars! When I walk along Old Pecos Trail, I can see the white bee hives in the grasses. I can’t get much closer than this.

There have been worries about the bee population and their colonies in the last two years. Hives have experienced colony collapse, an aberration where the hive dies off in very large numbers. Many theories have arisen—including cell towers interfering with their flights. To try to shed some light on it, I called Dr. Lawrence Connor, an entomologist, whose specialty is bees. He travels all over the world to meet with beekeepers and records their proceedings at international conferences. Sadly, he told me, bees seem to have a weakened immune system and research points to pesticides and pollution as culprits. A recent PBS show on this problem of bee die-off also cited a mite and a virus that has been identified in colonies which have hive collapse. No antidote has been found. The loss of the bee world would be a major blow to all crops as the bees are necessary for pollination—and our food supply.

Although I am allergic to bee stings, I can tell you I keep out of our bees' way and keep planting flowers for their benefit. They are after all, my neighbors, and good ones at that.

by PCH @ Main

This Is The Best!

How fitting, that at the cusp of the sun heading into the constellation Leo, this very blog, that you're reading right now, should win the Santa Fe Reporter's 2008 Best of Santa Fe award in the Best Local Blog category.

Icarus has ascended and not yet burned his wings…

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our fans, *ahem*, readers, for your love and support. Special thanks to BS, PCH , AEM and the Santa Fe Public Library staff who embody what we are trying to achieve, a blog that is library and Santa Fe based with whimsy and fact, to brighten our readers' day and show them our Santa Fe.

We hope to be an even better blog for Santa Fe in the coming year!

La Farge Closing and Holds

LaFarge Library Closing
August 4 through September 8, 2008

As of Wednesday, July 23, patrons will no longer be able to select LaFarge Library as a pickup location for holds.

If you are a LaFarge regular, please start choosing either Main or Southside as the branch library for your hold pick up location. Books that become available through your holds during this time will be routed to your choice of Main or Southside locations for pickup.

You may also freeze your holds. Items whose status is on the holdshelf, available (not checked out) or in transit may not be frozen. Once LaFarge reopens you must remember to unfreeze your holds to reactivate them. Your holds continue to remain in the holds queue, and once they reach the top, you will be the next person to receive the item after unfreezing your holds.

Please contact the Circulation Librarian at your branch if you have any questions.
Main Library: 955-6785
LaFarge Library: 955-4860 (until Aug. 4)
Southside Library: 955-2810

The Host

I can’t remember another time when I finished a book and immediately opened it back up to page one to read again. The Host by Stephenie Meyer made me do just that. This book offers the whole package: Sci Fi themes, compelling characters, action, and a little light romance mixed in!

Meyer is well known for her bestselling Twilight Series written for Young Adults. Now she has ventured into the realm of adult Science Fiction. Parasitic aliens have taken over human civilization and the struggle is on to capture the last few human hold-outs. The irony is that these aliens seem in many ways to have made the world a better place than when we humans were in control. They are peaceful and everyone does their share of the work. Greed is non-existent. Medical care has been perfected so that no one need suffer.

The book has been selected for discussion by the Teen Book Club at the Southside Library, 6599 Jaguar Drive, on Thursday, August 7. If you are between the ages of 13 and 18 and would like to read and discuss this book with us, see Lydia or Leslie in the Children’s Department at Southside and we’ll get you a copy. The Teen Book Club meets the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month from 4-5:30 PM. All teens are welcome!

By LW @ SS

WIRELESS WIRELESS WIRELESS!

The Southside Library now has free wireless access!

That's right, bring in your laptop, and you'll be able to surf the web throughout the library! Make sure to check out our wireless policy before heading over to make sure your laptop has everything it needs.

This latest technology has been added to the Library’s toolbox of computer tools for the patron. The City Council unanimously approved the installation of wireless access in City buildings in June. By providing this service, patrons can use their own wifi wired computers, freeing up the Library’s hardwired computers for other patrons.

Last year, the Library logged 143, 989 computer users for its 46 hardwired computers. The American Library Association reports that over 73 % of public libraries in the US offer wireless access for their patrons.

La Farge Branch is closed from August 4 through September 8 for renovations. During that time, wireless will be installed. The Main Library wireless access is coming soon!

Stay tuned for wireless updates for the rest of the Santa Fe Public Library!

Caterpillar Hunter!

Two members of the Traveling Lantern Theatre Company will perform “The Caterpillar Hunter – A Vegetable Safari” a free program for children at the Southside Branch Library on Friday, July 25th at 10:30 am. The Southside Library is located at 6599 Jaguar Drive, 955-2828.

Based on the beloved character of the late Steve Irwin, the Caterpillar Hunter shrinks himself and sets off to explore the terrain – pursuing elusive bugs and strange herbage in the wild recesses of a common North American vegetable garden. Crikey! Join in this exciting backyard adventure!

Vocabulary Test and Free Rice

Think you know the meanings of words? I mean, really recognize word definitions? The premise of this website, http://www.freerice.com/ , is simple. You identify the correct word definition and you earn 20 grains of rice. Yes, 20 grains of rice to fight world hunger through the United Nations World Food Program to end hunger.

It is that simple. And addictive. Since October 7, 2007, FreeRice has given out 38,795,640,570 grains of rice. In its first five months, FreeRice fed one million people their minimum daily rice quotient. Rice went to Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and most recently Myanmar to feed people after the disaster. All of the rice is purchased by sponsors.

The math is simple, 48 grains of rice equals one gram. 400 grams can feed a person for a day to stave off hunger. That is 19,200 grains of rice.

In telling friends about the site, they were irritated that people would play a silly game to earn rice and not just write a check. They did get it though, when I explained how clever it was that schools use the site to make students aware of what hunger is, and what it takes to stay alive, all the while using their computers. And building their vocabularies. Hopefully here is a whole new generation of caring kids being taught about giving in a fun way.

“FreeRice.com is one of the most ingenious websites of 2007. In the best spirit of the Internet, it offers education, entertainment and a way to change the world ― all for free.”
- Los Angeles Times

My first foray at the site earned 3,000 grains of rice, not enough for one person, but with literally thousands of people playing the word definitions site, it adds up quickly. Of course one can build their vocabulary and improve themselves, but better, you are feeding someone.

Here is a sample:

diabolical means:

stale flat prickly devilish

Correct answer: devilish

But that was an easy one. Go to http://www.freerice.com/ to play, but don’t forget I warned you it can be addictive.

By PCH at Main

La Farge Closing for Renovations

The La Farge Library will be closing for renovations from August 4 through September 8. During this time the library, including book drops, will not be accessible to the public. Books and other materials may be returned to either Main, at 145 Washington Avenue, or Southside Branch at 6599 Jaguar.

If you are a La Farge regular, please start choosing either Main or Southside as the branch for your book hold location. Books that become available through your holds during this time will be routed to your choice of Main or Southside locations for pickup.

Renovations, funded by the State Legislature, include installing new heating and air conditioning units, replacing the ceiling tiles and installing new lighting. In addition, safety issues will be corrected. In 2006, the City provided funds for La Farge branch to be painted and have new carpeting installed in the 28 year old branch.

If you have questions, please ask your reference librarian.

Photography Workshop for Teens

Session I – Monday, July 21st: 10 am to 1 pm
Session II – Friday, July 25th : 10 am to 1 pm

The Santa Fe Public Library is offering a two session photography workshop for teens called “Metamorphosis”, lead by photographer Kitty Leaken at the Southside Library, 6599 Jaguar Drive. Teens will explore a day in the field with cameras followed by a session of review and discussion of their images. Participants should bring their own camera (digital or film) if they have one. If participants do not have a camera, a disposable camera will then be provided if staff is informed in advance. Bring a sack lunch.

Questions: call Leslie or Lydia at 955-2828.
Class size is limited.
Plan to attend both sessions.
Please register in advance by calling 955-2820 or
in person at the Southside Library Reference Desk.

Sponsored by the Buckaroo Ball Foundation, the Santa Fe Community Foundation, and LANL.

Summer at the Bandstand

The Santa Fe Bandstand season is underway. Running until August 21st, there are tons of opportunities to hear some great music on the Santa Fe Plaza.

Whether you want to stop by at lunchtime or make an evening out of it, check out the listings, brave the weather, and wear your dancing shoes!

Riding the City Bus

The opportunity to sit and read a book while someone else negotiates traffic. The delight in gazing out the window and getting sneak peaks into someone else’s garden. The freedom to chat with a coworker about children and travel and the next big house remodeling project. These are just some of the benefits I get by riding the bus to work. It’s funny, I don’t even think about work when I’m on the way there.

Using public transportation in Santa Fe is new for me; for my first year at the new branch I drove the 13 miles everyday. Now I only drive when I have to attend a meeting or have an appointment elsewhere. Learning to ride the bus is just like learning anything else – a little trial and error, a little practice, and then it’s easy. I know how long it takes me to walk from my home (where there is no bus service) to the nearest bus stop (25 minutes), so I add an on an extra 5 minutes and walk the back roads and enjoy the beauty of the city and get some exercise (oh, another added benefit). I know when I should be at the bus stop waiting after work. I have my usual place where I sit. I always have a library book in my backpack.

If you haven’t taken public transportation, I urge you to give it a try. It’s very relaxing. Especially with a library book.

By PS @ SS.

Internet Jacks at Southside Library

The Southside Library provides internet access via wall jacks. Bring your laptop and an ethernet cable, and you'll be able to surf the web! Check with the Southside Reference staff for the locations of the internet jacks.

Stay tuned for an announcement about wireless at the Santa Fe Public Library!

Online Catalog Browser Settings

Do you like the convenience of the internet? Have you tried to place holds on books or DVDs online and it doesn't work right? Is your library PIN more of a library PAIN?

Our new web page about browser settings is the key to a better online library experience. You'll be able to figure out just how to set your cookies, or how to accept pop-ups from the library without letting in all those other pop-ups. You know the ones I mean!

So if you're having trouble with our website or catalog, please check out the browser settings page. If that doesn't work, we encourage you to call or visit us at the reference desk.

Interpreters at Southside Library!

The Santa Fe Public Library is providing interpreters for the deaf and hearing impaired at the following youth programs in July. The programs are geared to pre-schoolers through 6th grade.

• Magical Michael Steele:
  Friday, July 11th, 3pm
  
  
• Carolyn Newell's Exotics of the Rainforest:
  Tuesday, July 15th, 2:30 pm
  
  
• Andy Mason Sings Funny Songs!:
  Tuesday, July 22nd, 10:30 am
  
  
• Magic Lantern Show:
  Friday, July 25th, 10:30 am
  
  
  Southside Library Branch is located at 6599 Jaguar Drive, at the corner of Country Club Road. For more information call 955-2828 or access our website.

Library Card Applications: Online!

You can now print out library card applications from our website. Print it out, fill it out, and bring it to your local library branch with ID. If you're new to the library or haven't used your card in a while, we also have convenient key-chain library cards. You'll be checking out books, CDs and movies in no time!

The Spiritual Journey of Nicholas & Helena Roerich

Nicholas and Helena Roerich were Russian visionaries who believed that beauty could unify humanity. Nicholas was a well-known artist in the vivid style of 20th century “mystical” art, and Helena was co-author of the Agni Yoga series of writings.

Ruth Abrams Drayer has written a dual biography of the couple, entitled Nicholas & Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers. This Thursday night, July 10 at 7 p.m., Ms. Drayer will present a video and discussion of these two advocates of peace and their world travels, including their connection in the 1920’s to Santa Fe archeologist Edgar Hewitt and artists of the Los Cincos Pintores group.

The program will be in the Community Room of the Main Library at 145 Washington Ave. and is free and open to the public.

Closing Time History

Ten minutes before closing is usually not the best time to ask a reference question. While we do what we can, our attention is often divided among turning off equipment and lights, coaxing folks off the computers and checking out last minute finds. Of course, it depends on the complexity of the question, so when a couple came in last night asking for a Spanish-English dictionary, I was able to easily walk them to the area, the 463's, en route to turning off a copy machine.

A few minutes later, I passed the couple in the stacks. From their body language I could tell that they weren't having any luck, and my intuition told me that I knew exactly what they were looking for. I asked them if they found the word, and of course, they hadn't. I asked them what word they were looking for, and my intuition was correct.

"Peralta," they replied.

I told them it was a tree, but that the real meaning of the word could be found in the book Stories Behind the Street Names of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. They followed me to the reference desk where I pulled the book from the shelf, and it opened right to page 206, where the explanation resides. I was able to go on my merry way shutting down computers, and they happily satiated their curiosity before closing time.

I have been a New Mexico resident since Groundhog Day, 1997, but have only resided in Santa Fe since Groundhog Day, 2007. My knowledge of Santa Fe history pales beside my knowledge of Albuquerque and Four Corners history, but I add a little to it every day. I remember being curious about Paseo de Peralta when I moved here. Delving into my Spanish dictionary led me to "peral", which means "pear tree". I was puzzled, thinking perhaps the city was once surrounded by pear orchards? But when I started at SFPL, still curious, I was able to find out that Don Pedro de Peralta was the second governor of New Mexico, and the founder of Santa Fe.

If you're curious about this or any other street name in Santa Fe, or any place name in New Mexico, come in to the library and be sure to ask! We're always happy to share our knowledge or learn something new with you.

Libraries Rock n' Roll!

Please consider joining us for The High Strung's July performance here in Los Alamos...

Rock and Roll CONCERT:
The High Strung plus The Small Town Lab Rats
Fuller Lodge Lawn
Wednesday, July 9
7:00 PM
Sponsored by Los Alamos County Library System
FREE for all ages

The acclaimed rock and roll band, The High Strung, is coming to Los Alamos, funded in part by the Friends of Mesa Public Library! The High Strung have been lauded by Rolling Stone magazine, the New York Times, and Village Voice as one of the best rock & roll bands in America. The band’s videos have been seen on MTV, including full features in Entertainment Weekly, Magnet, Harp, and Spin magazines. The High Strung’s debut album, These Are Good Times, was hailed as one of the top 10 rock records of 2003 by NPR’s Ken Tucker. Rolling Stone Magazine said the band “…has a gift for nervy, agitated melodies that get under your skin as much as they make you hum along.”

They have their third CD out, Get the Guests, and the rave reviews are many for this Detroit-born band now also starting its third national library tour this summer.

Learn more about the band and the tour by visiting them at http://www.parkthevan.com/thehighstrung/ or on www.myspace.com/thehighstrung

Santa Fe Fire Department Family Fun Festival

Working to find a way to involve a sponsor in our Summer Reading Program in Denver one year, it was suggested that Ronald McDonald sit on a 2 story chair created by the artist Donald Lipski which was located just outside the Children’s Room. One problem, how to get Ronald on to the chair?

Would the artist allow it as the chair was an art piece? Luckily Lipski was charmed by the idea and I knew the Fire Chief. Why the fire chief? On the morning of the event a fire truck with a cherry picker arrived, Ronald McDonald stepped in it and was carefully taken up level to the seat of the chair. But, the one rule Mr. Lipski had made was that only Ronald and NOTHING ELSE could touch the chair. So there suspended 30 feet above a crowd of hundreds of children was Ronald McDonald with three-foot long shoes having to carefully step across the gap to the chair. My life and job flashed before my eyes. What if he tripped or misjudged the distance? Would hundreds of children be maimed for life by the sight of Ronald falling?
Luckily Ronald was very agile and all was well. We could stop holding our breath.

Fire Chief Rivera would surely have done the same if he’d been asked to do it in Santa Fe. I expect a lot of exciting things at the Santa Fe Fire Department Family Fun Festival on Saturday, July 12th on the Plaza, but no cherry picker with Ronald McDonald. This event is as hometown as Mom and apple pie, and it is all free. Stop down to the Plaza between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and be a kid again. Here are just some of t he fun things to expect:

Food * Drinks * Fire Safety * Radio Disney * Big Oldies 98.5 * Balloons * Face Painting with Annie Rose the Flower Fairy* Sparky the Dog * Smokey the Bear * Woodsy Owl * Castle Jumper * 22 ft. Slide * Obstacle Course * Climbing Wall * Fire Truck Rides* Fire Engine * Ambulance * Rescue Truck* Brush Truck * Haz-Mat Truck * Command Vehicle * Bike Medic’s * Antique Engine 3.

About the only think you can’t do is drive a fire truck. That’s okay, there is still plenty to see and do. Come and bring the family.

Written by PCH at Main

The Economist Pocket Guide

Librarians are addicted to facts and information. I can voice that, I am one. I once had a library friend who would read the Almanac on break and when tired of that, would look up obscure definitions to words in the dictionary.
For fun.

I should subscribe to The Economist if only to receive their annual pocket “World in Figures.” One would fare well on Jeopardy if one had this guide—and read and memorized the facts.
This pocket guide gives you invaluable information in categories such as: world rankings in population by age, teenage births, city living (fastest growing cities), country profiles, commodities, countries most economically dependent on agriculture, biggest tourist spenders, health, wealth and disease. And award winners and book sales and beer drinkers. The information is endless!

Here are some facts I gleaned:
Longest Life expectancy (men and women)?
Move to Andorra: 83.5. Avoid Swaziland and Botswana and Lesoto…

Think traffic is bad, think again.
The most crowded road networks are in Hong Kong—286.7 vehicles per km of roads.
The US is 40th.

The US has the highest book sales at 32.264 million.

China produces the most zinc, aluminium, tin and lead.
The US consumes the most coffee and India tops all countries in sugar.

Of course I could find it all on line or in other almanacs, but this little pocket guide is so well organized and their headings are so tempting. Hmmm, now where are the largest deserts? Oh, and the largest lakes? I’m sure Lake Superior is in the top three…

Written by PCH at Main

Indiana Jones! Or is it...

The Summer Reading Program and storytimes at all branches have been wildly successful so far. Just last week, Southside Library had 102 attendees at one of its preschool storytimes!

After all the Summer Reading fun, don't forget about the Indiana Bones Storyteller event.
It will be held on Friday August 15th at the following times:
Southside - 11:00 am
Main – 2:00 pm

The La Farge event has been cancelled, due to the branch's long-awaited renovation in August. We will have more details about La Farge closing shortly.

In the meantime, please enjoy this Indiana Jones animation, created by the grandson of a Santa Fe Public Librarian. We expect to see him shooting a movie around Santa Fe in no time!